Brilliant News for Onshore Production
18-03-2025
Newsletter 5th March 2025
John Lyttle Confirms Leicester Made Attendance
(John Lyttle image via LinkedIn)
Our Leicester Made trade event, taking place 14th May, is taking shape with influential speakers and sponsors confirming their involvement.
News just in, John Lyttle, has confirmed he will attend and speak at the CEO Roundtable during the event.
John, a former CEO of Boohoo Group, is now Managing Director of Clothing, Home & Beauty at M&S. John has extensive retail and transformation experience, spending five years at Boohoo and nine years at Primark as COO.
FEL CEO Jenny Holloway comments: “I am absolutely delighted that John will be attending the Leicester Made event. I have known him for many years and he is a great advocate of fast track production, and of course John attending this event is very positive news for on-shoring of production.”
Last week we announced Liz Kendall, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and MP for Leicester West, as a keynote speaker at the event, and we are also thrilled that Alvanon has come on board as Leicester Made’s first sponsor.
Janice Wang, CEO of Alvanon commented: “We have always been so inspired by what Jenny and her team have done to upskill, improve and promote local industry.
“We believe in a multifaceted, inclusive fashion industry that does good for people and the planet.
“We sincerely hope that more will be made locally, with skill and discipline and technology, Leicester Made will showcase all these elements.”
Leicester Made will take place Wednesday 14th May at Athena, Queen St, Leicester LE1 1QD.
For all enquiries, please contact: beth@fashion-enter.com
If you would like to attend Leicester Made 2025 please tap here
Repair Week Ready!
If you didn’t already notice Repair Week began on Monday 3rd and the team have been thrilled with the enthusiasm and attendance at events so far.
Monday began with ‘Mend Your Ways’ webinar organised by the Northern Ireland Resources Network. Jenny was joined by guest speakers Mary Fleming from Change Clothes and Angeline Murphy Design, for short presentations followed by lots of discussion on how individuals and businesses can incorporate repair and reuse.
On Tuesday we held a free, repair and upcycle drop-in at our shop; FC Designer Collective on Fonthill Road. The shop was absolutely heaving with individuals working on their clothing items, using the sewing machines and gaining support and advice from the team.
FEL’s CEO Jenny Holloway popped in and City London News interviewed her about the importance of repair and encouraging reuse through community led events. The story is due to air on Thursday so keep a look out!
#RepairWeek #RepairWeekLDN
HOPE-FX #2
This week, 4th March, we also began our second edition of HOPE-FX, a unique programme in partnership with North London NHS Foundation Trust, to engage and support young adults on a creative project to encourage positive mental health.
The second cohort has doubled in participant numbers and it was absolutely brilliant to see everyone so engaged with stitching skills. The feedback from Day 1 was awesome and we are looking forward to the next 3 months with this group.
Latest From Leicester
The Leicester branch of the FTA – the Fashion Hub has had a busy month with attendees on the Skills Bootcamp, Numeracy, stitching and patterns courses.
The UKSP funded programme is going from strength to strength and additional budget has been allocated as the programme is doing so well.
Big thank you to Peter Chandler at Leicester City Council for his ongoing support.
Tap here to read the latest news from Fashion Hub Leicester.
FashionCapital Advice & Support
We had an excellent review on our free monthly masterclasses from Peter Gallagher-Witham Founder of The Fashion Guild
His review concluded:‘For emerging designers or entrepreneurs seeking practical guidance wrapped in genuine warmth, Jenny Holloway’s clinics stand out as both enlightening and reassuring. They are a testament to how an industry sometimes seen as closed-off can become an inclusive space for creativity, determination, and steady progress.’
Tap here to read the full review
Jenny added:“I will always provide these free monthly seminars on www.FashionCapital.co.uk because I genuinely do not want people to make the mistakes that I did. Sharing experiences, good and bad, really makes business sense and we have seen some fantastic brands fly over the years. HTG this makes me so happy!”
The next masterclass will take place Wednesday 26th March 10 -11 via Zoom and the topic will be: ‘How to ensure your production is right first time.’
Fashion Studio Price Update Reminder
As announced in last week’s newsletter, in line with the new minimum price increase from 1st April, we are having to increase our Fashion Studio fees.
We have revised the numbers to ensure the increase remains at a minimum and we will be increasing our Fashion Studio prices by £1 as of 1st April 2025.
Sampling will increase from £32 per hour to £33 per hour.
Patterns will increase from £35 per hour to £36 per hour.
These prices are ex-VAT
We are sorry that we have to increase the prices and we are really trying to keep the costs to a minimum for you!
Masterclasses and Courses
Roll-on courses:
Available at all campuses Islington, Haringey and Leicester.
Diploma in Fashion Design and Business
Stitching:
10 March – 4-Day Intermediate Stitching Course – Mastering Construction – FC Designer Workspace – £110
Pattern Cutting:
6 March – 2-Day Darted Bodice Pattern Cutting course – FC Designer Workspace – £70
Repair and Upcycling:
25 March – School Uniform Repair Workshop – FC Designer Collective shop – Fonthill Road – Free
Advice and Support:
26 March – 1-hour Masterclass:How to ensure your production is right first time – Free via Zoom
Visit our short course eventbrite page here
For all course enquiries contact: education@fashion-enter.com or call 0208 809 3311
This Week on FashionCapital…
Fast fashion could be left in the closet as preloved and repair options increasingly replace the demand for new purchases.
A new report from WRAP highlights how circular business models, including resale platforms like Depop, eBay, and Vestiaire Collective, as well as repair services from The Seam, SOJO, and Finisterre, are displacing the need for new clothing sales.
Move Over Fast fashion – Sales In Preloved and Repair Are Gaining Momentum
And Finally…A warm welcome to our new stitching tutor Louisa…
Here she introduces herself: “I am Louisa Christodoulou and I will be teaching the stitching classes with Fashion-Enter.
“I joined FCFTA about five years ago and loved the Academy so much that I did every course I could. I started at Level 1 and went all the way through to Level 5 with tailoring skills taught by Francisco.
“I loved my time with the academy and I am delighted that I’ll be teaching these skills to new learners with Fashion-Enter! It’s a dream come true and the team headed by Lan is just fabulous.”
Until next time, have a great week.
From the Team at FashionCapital
